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7/30/13

Our Little Black Satin Bathroom

I feel like my home decor posts over the past week have been very bathroom-y... haha
But as promised, I wanted to share with you all how the satin-black bathroom came out! I know that using black paint on walls can sound a bit scary, but if done right it can actually look very classic and beautiful.

So this room actually became black on a whim. Little backstory... I had painted the adjoining guest bedroom a pretty neutral gray (Edgecomb Gray by Benjamin Moore) shortly after we moved in. I LOVE that color. Since I had almost a half gallon of it left, I figured I would paint the bathroom that color as well.
Here's a little shot of it in the guest bedroom...

Until I remembered it was a "flat" finish. Which isn't the best formula for a bathroom. For bathrooms, I like to use at least an eggshell formula. Preferably a satin. Just because hairspray, products, any moisture basically, will stain the walls and be almost impossible to clean. The finish basically soaks it right in. So a satin (or glossier) formula will be easiest to clean and hold up so much better.
So I went into the garage to see what leftover paint we had in a satin formula.

Remember these??

To see more on painting the French doors in our foyer black, check out this post.

Yep. An almost full can of Behr Black Suede in a satin finish. I had purchased the full gallon of this (although the French doors took maybe about 1/8 of it to paint?) thinking I may use it on the back of the front door as well, which I'm still thinking about.
Anyway, I immediately got really excited about the idea of a chic little black bathroom.

Here is the before shot...

When we moved in to this house a few months back, you may remember me talking about how excited we were about how updated everything was. Every faucet, fixture, cabinet knob, countertop, doorknobs, floors, granite... everything had been replaced brand new before we moved in. Except this bathroom...
It was like the poor little bathroom that everyone forgot. In these before photos, you may be able to tell I had replaced the cabinet knobs with some of my Anthropologie crystal pretties I brought from our last house. Yeah, all new cabinet knobs everywhere too. Just not in here. I seriously think they just forgot about it.

So my plan was to work with what I had in here.
The paint color before was totally not unbearable, but it was very yellow in this room. Also, you cannot tell at all from the photos, but the paint was peeling off and flaking in a lot of areas in here. I'm guessing there was wallpaper in here before and when it had been removed, maybe there was some residue left over that they painted over? Totally not sure.

Here's a few more before shots.

This bathroom is meant to be shared between the two bedrooms at the end of the hall. The guest bedroom actually connects, while the other bedroom doesn't. It's right next to the doorway to the bathroom though. I cannot wait to share that room with you guys. It's HUGE. We're thinking that will be a perfect room for a future kiddo. Don't get excited. Not that time quite yet...haha

So I began by sanding over the walls where the paint was flaking and where it appeared the residue (possible old wallpaper glue?) had broken through. That was the worst step.

Then I "cut in" with the black paint and an angled brush around all of the trim, crown moulding, and doors. I take back what I said before. THAT was actually the worst step... and by far the most time-consuming.

Then I rolled the paint between all of that on the walls. That went super quickly.

aaaand here she is!

I think the white bead board trim and all of the white cabinets, floors, and tile in the shower helped to balance out the black.

Not the best shot below (the lights are reflecting all crazy on the walls), but you can see the other little side of the sink and you can see how I painted the little wall "medicine cabinet" black as well. I thought it just looked a little more pulled-together rather than leaving it white.

Speaking of the light fixture, this thing gave us some MAJOR problems. I actually like the way the chrome faucets and finishes in the shower look with the black paint, so I decided to make those work and just pick up a new pretty vanity light fixture to replace the brushed nickel finished one. So off I went to Lowes and bought a shiny new chrome one.

Brad is great at electrical stuff and replacing fixtures and whatnot, so we came home and removed the old one... Only to find a HUGE hole right behind the two left lights exposing a large plumbing pipe behind it. Apparently when the house was built, they did that to sort of make you avoid drilling any part of the fixture through it. Which is great because the existing fixture would have been mounted and drilled to the wall right at that spot (they drilled a new mounting hole in the mounting plate to avoid it. I should've totally taken a photo of it... It was crazy.

Problem was the new fixture attached in the center and didn't have that huge backplate like the existing one. So we would have had to patch that spot which would have been a tough job.

So up the old fixture went again and the new one went right back to the store. I picked up some of the same little clear shades I used in our powder room re-do too. I think they look a lot better.

The only thing I would eventually like to change is possibly the countertops. I'd like to change them to a light-colored granite. Just because the ones now are pretty scratched and can look a bit yellow against all of the white, but they're just fine for now!

I was also contemplating painting the bead board and trim above it black too, sort of like this photo. But so far, I'm diggin' the contrast.

Not the best photo (took all of these pretty late at night), but here's what it looks like coming in from the guest bedroom side.

One thing I would LOVE to do that will definitely happen in the future is to replace the little light fixture in front of the shower. You can see it in the photo below (should have totally turned it off for this pic, but you get the idea).

It's nice because it's controlled separately than the light above the vanity. Anyway, I'd love to change it out to something really fun. Definitely will wait until I find something perfect.

So my biggest tip with black paint (where walls are concerned) is to stay away from stark black formulas. Even if you want a black black room. It's usually just not flattering. Find a black that has a bit of gray or brown mixed in to soften it a bit. It will still read very black, but won't look stark.

Paint is a pretty crazy-big-difference update huh? All of the little decor items in the room aren't new. Literally the paint is the only update. I love what a difference it made!
So do you guys have any black rooms? What are your favorite black paint colors for walls?

Tiffany, this is amazing! You have inspired me to tackle both of our bathrooms, haha. I never would have thought to use black in a bathroom but this just works, and it works well. I am loving these decor posts! I am a big fan of your style (decor and fashion). :)

I love the home decor posts you have been sharing! I like the constrast of the beadboard staying white and keeping your doors white like they currently are, otherwise the black would be overdone. You did a perfect job at giving the bath a cheap makeover with some awesome style!

Wow, this is so pretty. It looks like right from a home deco mag. We want to redo our bathrooms completely with tiles and everything. I am always dragging my feet, because of the dust and the inconvenience. When I see your photos I know that it will be totally worth it. Guess we just have to set a date and do it. Thank you for sharing your experience.

Mounting the shower curtain rod extra high and getting an extra long (floor to ceiling) shower curtain makes bathrooms look bigger and very chic. I think that would look great in your guest bath. It tricks the eye and is soooo elegant!

I absolutely LOVE this! It's got a very chic/Parisian feel. And that shower curtain is too cute for words. I really like the contrasting colors, the all black photo looks waaay to harsh for a bathroom.

Oh my gosh, what a difference! It looks absolutely fantastic! Honestly, it's amazing how much of a difference painting the walls makes. And I absolutely ADORE those ruffled shower curtains, adding to my wishlist.

Looks great, such a dramatic difference. One suggestion for your mirror: research the DIY mirror frames, it would help update it in line with the rest of the room without a major time and expense factor. Love all of your DIY updates!

This is beautiful, this took cajones but it totally paid off. Also, I love how practical you were with re-using existing paint, I do that all the time in little projects and it always make me feel very proud of myself for being some economical.

It's amazing how much a room can change simply by adding a good colour scheme. I love the finished product! I love dark colours, and it's interesting to see them used in ways other people might see as unconventional (:

You've done it once again Mrs Tiffany! I love it! You're so amazing at home decor, it's a true talent you have. Never would I have thought to paint a bathroom black, but it looks amazingly chic and some how still very fresh and bright. Really loving all of these home posts.

The light fixture is a nice shape and provides good light, what about painting it with chrome spray paint? The Krylon one is really great and super easy to use. Just take off the glass shades and stuff paper towels into the light sockets to avoid getting paint in the electrical mechanisms.

Love the black in the BA; never thought of such a dark color for a small space, but it works. One suggestion (if I may): You might want to think about replacing the mirror with a nice framed one from somewhere like Kirkland's, etc. Maybe one in silver? That would pull everything together very nicely (although it looks absolutely beautiful now!) Thanks for sharing!

I love it Tiffany, you have such great style & I'm loving seeing your home come together. I recently painted my bathroom(previously yellow with a white suite), to a lovely warm mocha chocolate colour & I really think that the dark colours contrast beautifully with the white and make it look really classy and serene. I'm doing my kitchen next as that was refitted last summer.

Beautiful job! When we redid our guest bath, the carpenter put moulding right on our mirror so that it looks like the mirror has a frame. Just picked modern type moulding, mitered the corners, painted it and used a wood glue that worked on glass and glued it to the mirror. Really finished it off. Just a thought for yours...

Wow, so beautiful bathrooms! Gorgeous! I love Vintage kind of style, because it creates such a harmony. What do you think, doesn't it? My bathtub i recently bought creates that kind of harmony WHIRLPOOL AQUA 160 SQ !! Thank you for an inspirational blog, keep posting blogs like it, it's exciting to read ;-))

Actually you are quite right - if anyone ever told me they are going to paint their bathroom in black, I would be surprised and I would certainly not believe the result could be so good. Congratulations for being so brave and I can for sure say it looks much better than the old white bathroom...

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Thank you for this post! I found it while searching "paint finishes for black bathroom". I am redoing my powder room in a dark dark grey, almost black paint and was wondering which finish to do it in. You have inspired me to look into the satin finish. I think flat is too, well...flat! And I didn't want to go the semi gloss route, so I think satin will be perfect. Your bathroom came out AMAZING! I love everything you did with it! Thanks for the inspriation :)

We have a little spare room that rarely gets used apart from for storage and we were just talking the other day about redecorating it for when friends come and stay. I like the idea of some black in there as it would look really funky and quite stylish I imagine. I would have to install some kind of central heating first however as it can get quite frosty in there in the winter.

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